What is PR anyway?

By Thomas Becher, APR

I’m often asked: What exactly is public relations?

Years of wisdom gleaned from high-level corporate work have taught me to appreciate and advocate the role of PR in a free society.

The cynics will say the PR guy’s the one with the shovel and bucket at the end of the circus parade.

In truth, PR is about building relationships between companies and organizations and their constituents. It’s about ensuring communications take place – at the right time, at the right place and in the right way – as part of the marketplace of ideas.

It’s a vital part of commerce, discourse and democracy.

Yet so few people understand what PR is. That’s probably because it can be so many things. This blog will, over time, help to demystify public relations.

To wit:

• PR helps journalists tell stories.
  
• PR enables businesses and organizations to recover from a crisis.
  
• PR makes it possible for people to deliver memorable speeches.
  
• PR creates meetings and special events that get people engaged and connected.
  
• PR helps companies communicate effectively with employees.

Public relations is vital for successful businesses or organizations. I’ve often wondered – if they have attorneys and accountants, shouldn’t they have PR pros working for them as well?

Feel free to e-mail me

Welcome

Welcome to Off the Rail, the new blog brought to you by the great minds at tba (the becher agency), a leading public relations and advertising firm in Roanoke, Va.

Our cool office is located in a former warehouse hard by the railroad tracks. With an open floor plan, wood floors, brick walls and exposed beams, the place inspires us every day to provide our clients with strategy, creativity and results.

Plus it’s fun to watch the freight trains rumble by as commerce makes its way to and fro.

Which brings us to our blog’s name. You see, we’re all about being a bit different – taking a new approach, offering new ideas, plodding a unique path. Like being off the rail. But in a good way.

With this blog, written by different members of our team every week, we hope to educate, inform and inspire with helpful tips, valuable insight and astute observations to help your business or organization communicate more effectively to any audience.

From time to time we’ll even chime in about life on the other side of the tracks.

So please check back often or subscribe to our feed here.

For now, we gotta go – a train is coming.